PALU, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s elite counterterrorism police arrested eight suspected militants in current days believed to be a part of a brand new cell linked to Jemaah Islamiyah, an al-Qaida-linked group, authorities mentioned Saturday.
Police carried out raids in Central Sulawesi province between Tuesday and Thursday, mentioned Agus Nugroho, the provincial police chief, including that 5 suspects had been arrested within the metropolis of Palu, two in Sigi, and one in Poso which is a recognized extremist hotbed.
Two laptops, a number of mobile telephones and paperwork, together with jihadist books had been seized and suspects had been being interrogated, Nugroho mentioned.
Nationwide Police spokesperson Trunoyudo Wisnu Andiko mentioned the arrests had been the results of info obtained from 59 suspected militants detained in Oct. 2023.
“(The eight) all actively take part in group actions, significantly in military-style coaching and amassing funds for alleged plans of terror acts,” Andiko advised reporters on the Nationwide Police headquarters within the capital, Jakarta. He added that convicted leaders of the group and veteran fighters in Afghanistan had been recruiting and coaching new members.
Jemaah Islamiyah is accountable for a number of assaults inside Indonesia, particularly, the 2002 bombing s on the resort island of Bali that killed 202 individuals, largely international vacationers. A courtroom banned the group in 2008 and fixed counterterrorism crackdowns, supported by the US and Australia, have weakened it additional.
Final 12 months, police arrested a complete of 142 suspected militants, together with 4 girls, and fatally shot two others on southern Sumatra island.
Militant assaults on foreigners in Indonesia have been largely changed lately by smaller, much less lethal strikes concentrating on the federal government, primarily police and anti-terrorism forces, and other people militants contemplate to be infidels, impressed by Islamic State group techniques overseas.
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Related Press author Niniek Karmini in Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed to this report.
Mohammad Taufan, The Related Press
